This organically produced ale (no discerning name given) is one in the line of beers produced by the Samuel Smith brewery. Known for using the same strain of yeast since the 19th century the brewery produces almost all of its brews with a brewing method utilizing a yorkshire square. Given the history and unique method used to create this beer my hopes were high for a distinct taste.(more…)

Péché Mortel is an imperial coffee stout brewed by the Dieu du Ciel microbrewery and pub in Montréal, Canada starting in 2001. This beer has the highest alcohol content of all their brews at 9.5% which pairs perfectly with the imperial stout characteristics.(more…)

Since I’ve been in the middle of a moving and home renovations I haven’t been able to hop back on to the brewing wagon lately. However, for my birthday one of my friends got me an assortment of craft beers. Since it will be a while before I can get back into brewing I figured it would be good to take some time and review some other beers.

The idea for this brew presented itself after doing some research into various brewing adjuncts- specifically Candi Sugar. After reading how simple the process is to create this adjunct I decided to drag out a sauce pot and try my hand at inverting some sucrose molecules to make some amber colored candi sugar syrup. Having achieved what appears to be a level of success the question was then raised: On what kind of beer recipe should I use this liquid buffet for yeast? After some Google-fu the answer became crystal clear: a Belgian-style wheat beer.

If you were paying attention to the end of the post about the brewing of the Honey Bunny Sweet Wheat you may have noticed that there was a pretty steep drop in gravity from 1.069 to 1.010. This corresponds to a simliar spike in the final ABV of the beer, and terms of taste the higher alcohol content is absolutely front and center. I don’t know at this point if the high fermentation level was from the large amount of DME, a highly attenuative yeast, or from the yeast feasting upon the easily digestible honey sugars but nonetheless there was a higher than expected level of alcohol in the final beer.(more…)

Not very much to say about this brew. While I’m still planning out the construction of a lautering tun the itch to brew once again kicked in, but I was in the mood to just make something a little less challenging. Therefore, after a little searching around I settled on a honey wheat. While I’ve never really been a fan of wheat beers up to this point with the inevitable heat of summer bearing down upon the region I figured now would be as good a time as any to attempt expanded horizons again.